Reader says he is glad to see the back of Geoff White
Geoff White retired from public office as head of NPT CBC Planning last month. On 28th March, a reader, Mr Terry Griffiths, wrote in with the news and made a few comments. These are now tucked away at the bottom of the Readers' Letters page and are about to go into the archives. Now we have had a belated letter which is equally tucked away, which we think is worth reading because it factually relates to Geoff Whites' term in office.
Received 24.4.13
A little late, perhaps, but I would like to add my deafening cries of "Bon Voyage, Geoff White".
Like Mr Griffiths, I too have battled with Mr White and Co over the years to attempt to keep an equilibrium between sustainable development and to preserve the characteristics of green open spaces and lovely wooded areas which attracts many people to Neath and its locale.
Sadly, it seemed that Mr White did not share this view, preferring to bury us under concrete of another "visionary" housing estate, rather than doing something as inventive as maintaining an area as a green space or other progressive planning decision.
The fact is, in my many years of dealing with Mr White and the NPTCBC Planning Department, I have questioned both the politics and bias of many of the decisions made. I need not mention the Cimla Court fiasco, which required several hundered residents to form an action committee to prevent an eyesore block of mutliple flats from being built in an already densely populated area.
In this instance, even Peter Hain got involved, stating on the one hand that he was not able to contribute to the residents' voice at the risk of demonstrating bias, and then the next being photographed standing shoulder to shoulder with the developers...Cuddy? Now, don't they always seems to get a high proportion of council contracts.... Then there was my own campaign to save a small woodland in the same area. I spoke directly to Mr White, who confirmed that there was no plan for development that he knew of for the site, then, lo, and behold, just a few days later, a planning application "just happened" to appear, nailed precariously to one of the trees myself and dozens of residents were trying to save. At best, this was a case of not knowing what was going on in his own department, at worst, a bare-faced untruth.
And need I mention the loss of green space at Waunceirch, and attempts again to grab land at the top of Leiros Park, which was originally thrown out by the Commissioner due to the range of biodiversity present there. Oh! and don't forget Bryncoch Farm, where several thousand local residents signed a petition against it, only for the Council to give some other excuse for it not to go ahead. The Council wasn't even gracious enough to say it had listened to residents' wishes and had made it's decision in support of local people and the environment.
It's true to say that Geoff White isn't the only unprincipled individual within the Council when it comes to green issues, but at least it's one less that we have to contend with.
Trouble is, will he be like a garden weed...get rid of one, and two pop up in its place??
Happy retirement, Mr White, and appreciate the beauty of Neath's environment on ramblings out in your sunset years. Perhaps you'll wish you'd done a lot more to preserve it.
Ed Note .... Elsewhere on this website Cllr Peter Rees pays a tribute to Geoff White.
